Cordus, Euricius

(b. Simtshausen bei Marburg, Germany, 1486; d. Bremen, Germany, 24 December 1535),

medicine, poetry, botany.

The youngest of thirteen children of a well-to-do farmer, Euricius took as his surname the nickname “Cordus” (“last-born”). He probably attended the schools of Wetter and Frankenberg before beginning his studies in liberal arts at Erfurt (about 1505 to 1507). In 1508 he married Kunigunde Dunnwald daughter of a Frankenberg pharmacist, who bore him eight children. In 1516 he received a master of arts degree and in 1517 became rector of the Abbey School of St. Mary in Erfurt, where he gave lectures on poetry, rhetoric, and the New Testament.

His income, however, was not nearly adequate; and so in 1519 Cordus decided to study medicine. In 1521 he went to Ferrara, where that autumn Leoniceno conferred a doctor’s degree on him. He returned to Erfurt and in 1523 accepted an appointment as municipal physician for Brunswick. Four years later he accepted the offer of the Hessian landgrave Philip the Magnanimous and became professor of medicine at the newly founded (1527) University of Marburg.

In addition to his work at the university and as general practitioner, Cordus devoted himself to botany, laid out a botanical garden, and was the first German university professor to organize excursions for studying plants. Even though Cordus was twice rector of the Philippina and his position seemed assured, there were repeated disputes with colleagues—partially due, no doubt, to his lively temperament. Weary of the continuous hostility, Cordus resigned in 1533 to spend the last years of his life in Bremen as municipal physician and professor at the Gymnasium.

Even from his work it is difficult to be sure whether Cordus should be regarded more as a poet, as a physician interested in the natural sciences, or as a botanist. His work can be divided in two parts: his poetry, particularly the ten eclogues of pastoral poems (“Buclioca”) written in the style of Vergil and the ironic-humorous epigrams; and his medical and botanical writings, especially his work on the “English sweat” (sweating sickness), the booklet on the preparation of theriaca, and the Botanologicon, as well as the posthumously published De urinis. The Botanologicon is generally considered to be the first attempt at a scientific systematization of plants.

Cordus may not have been an outstanding physician, but he showed himself to be a highly willful and versatile personality whose progressive ideas characterize the Reformation and the age of humanism.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

I. Original Works. Cordus’ poetry is, for the most part, in Eurici Cordi Simesusii Germani poetae lepidissimi opera poetica omnia (n.p., n.d.; Frankfurt, 1550, 1564; Helmsted, 1614); they include “Bucolicorum eclogae X” and “Epigrammatum libri XIII.” The Helmstedt ed. was published by J. Lüder with a biography of Cordus by H. Meibom. The first three books of the epigrams were republished by Carl Krause with a biographical introduction in Lateinische Literaturdenkmäler des 15.und 16. Jahrhunderts, V (Berlin, 1892).

His scientific writings include Ein Regiment: Wie mansich vor der newen Plage, der Englische Schweis genant, bewaren… sall… (Marburg, 1529), reprinted with commentary by Gunter Mann (Marburg, 1967); von der vielfaltigen tugent unnd waren bereitung, dess rechten edlen Theriacs… (Marburg, 1532); Botanologicon (Cologne, 1534; Paris, 1551), the paris ed. including Valerius Cordus’ Annotationes… in Dioscoridis de materia medica libros; and De urinis (Magdeburg, 1536; Frankfurt, 1543). The index of the Botanologicon may be found in Pedanii Dioscoridis… de medicinali materia libri sex loanne Ruellio… interprete… Per Gualtherum Rivium (Frankfurt, 1549).

II. Secondary Literature. On Cordus or his work see (in chronological order) Wigand Kahler, vita D. Euricii Cordi (Rinteln, 1744), with bibliography; Friedrich Wilhelm Strieder, Gundlage zu einer hessischen Gelehrten-und Schriftstellergeschicthe, 11 (Kassel 1782,) 282–294, with bibliography; Carl Krause, “Euricius Cordus. Eine biographische; Skizze aus der Reformationsziet,” dissertation (Hanau, 1863); F. W. E. Roth, “Euricius Cordus and dessen Botanologicon 1534,” in Archiv für die Geschichte der Naturwissenschfiten and der Technik, 1 (1909), 279 ff.; August Schulz, “Euricius Cordus als botanischer Forscher and Leherer,” Abhandlungen der Naturforschenden Gesellschaft zu Halle, n.s. 7 (1919); Hans vogel, “Euricius Cordus in seinen Epigramment”, dissertation (Greifswald, 1932); Helmut Dolezal, “Eurics Cordus,” in Neue deutshe Biographie, III (1957), 359 f.; and Peter Dilg, “Das Botanologicon des Euricius Cordus. Ein Beitrag zur botanischen Literatur des Humanismus,” dissertation (Marburg, 1969), with a German translation of the Botanologicon.a German translation of the Botanologicon.

Rudolf Schmitz